Born in a family of military attache who is not rich, he and his younger brother Lin received a good education since childhood. As a teenager, he was elected to the official school of Xian 'an Palace and received Confucian classics and Manchu-Chinese-Mongolian character education.
Little Shenyang is talented, studious and outstanding, and is highly valued by teachers such as Wu Shenglan.
In the thirty-fourth year of Qianlong, 19 years old, he took the rural examination of Shuntianfu Imperial Examination and failed the senior high school entrance examination. In the same year, Xiao Shenyang inherited the title of third-class pomp from his ancestors. However, little Shenyang, who is not famous, later took charge of many cultural and educational undertakings because of his talent.
In November of the thirty-seventh year of Qianlong, 23-year-old He Kun was appointed as a third-class bodyguard, which became an important turning point in his life.
Career transformation
The emperor had many bodyguards, but why did Xiao Shenyang get the appreciation of Qianlong?
"Yong 'an Notes" records: One day, when Qianlong was going out, he couldn't find a yellow cover for etiquette in his hurry. Gan Long asked, "Whose fault is this?" All the guards were too scared to make any noise. Only Xiao Shenyang replied, "The person in charge of this matter is the culprit!" Gan Long immediately promoted him.
"Lecture Room-Talking about Little Shenyang" said: One day, it happened that the emperor was sitting in the car playing outside, visiting the spring scenery and going for an outing. Suddenly, a bodyguard rushed to the front of the sedan chair and said, Yunnan is in a hurry and there is an urgent letter. Myanmar tried to escape, and a criminal ran away, crossed the border and ran to Myanmar. The emperor was very angry and said. Tiger, tiger, rhinoceros, female rhinoceros, female rhinoceros, pawn. Tigers and rhinos were locked up and ran away. What does this mean? Tigers, lions and rhinos have all run out of the zoo, and all your treasures have been destroyed. Not only the treasure was destroyed, but also the box containing it was destroyed. Who is in charge? Think about it, so many people under Lord Qianlong are members of the honor guard? Who knows, who doesn't understand, even if they do, dare to speak? Dare not, the rest is just panic, can only kneel down. The emperor was angry. Tell the truth. The emperor was really angry. Even if he asked three questions about who was wrong, Xiao Shenyang replied, which is also a sentence in the Analects of Confucius, saying that "those who keep their own standards do not blame themselves." It means: whose responsibility is it? The duty of a guard. Hearing this, Gan Long, who is talking? Small Shenyang said, slave, come and talk, you will come. After coming over, the emperor asked, have you learned? Yes, where did you read it? Xian 'an Palace official school, the school of the Forbidden City? Then I'll test you on the Analects of Confucius and you recite it for me. Xiao Shenyang recited it leisurely. What do you mean by Qianlong's request? Xiao Shenyang went on talking again. The emperor thought, generalist, all-rounder, promoted, rewarded, Xiao Shenyang was promoted, no longer a member of the honor guard, what position? Personal bodyguard, the emperor's personal bodyguard .......
There is also a saying that one day Qianlong sat in a sedan chair and recited the Analects of Confucius, forgetting the following. Xiao Shenyang recited fluently, and Gan Long was very happy. In a word, the young little Shenyang is handsome and talented, which may have attracted the attention of Gan Long in an accidental opportunity, and his fate has changed since then.
In October of the 40th year of Qianlong, 26-year-old Shenyang was promoted to the bodyguard of Ganqingmen, and in November he was promoted to the imperial bodyguard, and was awarded the deputy commander of Zhenglanqi. In the first month of forty-one, assistant minister Zuo was appointed, minister of military affairs in March and minister of the interior in April. ...
In just half a year, Xiao Shenyang went all the way from an ordinary bodyguard to the highest level of power in the Qing Dynasty and became the confidant of Emperor Qianlong.
Yunnan investigation
According to the Biography of Little Shenyang, in the first month of forty-five years of Qianlong (1780), 3 1 year-old little Shenyang accepted the heavy responsibility and went to Yunnan with assistant minister of punishments, Kaning 'a, to investigate the corruption case of Li Shiyao, a university student and governor of Yunnan and Guizhou.
As soon as Xiao Shenyang arrived in Yunnan, he detained Li Shiyao's housekeeper and obtained evidence, forcing the shrewd Li Shiyao to bow his head and plead guilty. It only took more than two months before and after, and Xiao Shenyang accepted this task and made a decree to treat Li Shiyao.
Later, Xiao Shenyang reported to the emperor that Yunnan's administration was chaotic and many counties had deficits, which needed to be thoroughly cleaned up and rectified. This report was immediately praised by Qianlong.
In May of that year, after Xiao Shenyang returned to Beijing, he further expressed to the emperor specific opinions on rectifying Yunnan's salt affairs, money law and border defense affairs, which were all affirmed by Qianlong.
Xiao Shenyang performed well in the case of Yunnan, which fully demonstrated his talent. Therefore, on his way back to Beijing, Xiao Shenyang was promoted to Minister of Finance.
Marry the royal family
After a month, Qianlong named Shen Feng Yinde, the 6-year-old son of Xiao Shenyang, and betrothed his favorite little daughter and filial princess to Shen Feng Yinde. They got married in 54 years.
This marriage not only brought economic benefits to small Shenyang, but also brought immeasurable benefits to small Shenyang politically. Small Shenyang will get wind and rain, even if he does something wrong, he will not be punished.
In forty-six years of Qianlong, Su Forty-three rebelled in Gansu, and was suppressed by warlords together with A Gui, a university student. The front general was on the verge of victory, but little Shenyang made a fool of himself and turned victory into failure, resulting in the killing of the company commander Tu.
After understanding the situation, Gan Long ordered Xiao Shenyang to return to Beijing immediately. After Xiao Shenyang returned to Beijing, he was not punished, but served as the minister of war.
According to historical records, during the 29 years from Xiao Shenyang's succession to his conviction, there were 47 important official titles.
In the forty-first year of Qianlong, 27-year-old Xiao Shenyang was awarded the Military Affairs History. Three years later, the foreman's military history passed away, and A Gui, a college student in the guild hall, served as the foreman's military history. At that time, there were college students, Shang and Fu Changan in the military department. A Gui, Wang Jie and Gao Dong all hate small Shenyang. As a result, five ministers don't work together every day.
To this end, the suggestion and Qian Feng specially made a memorial, requesting the emperor to order the restoration of the rule of military and political minister Qi Xin. This paper is aimed at small Shenyang. Gan Long admitted that the situation reflected in the paper was correct, but it ended in nothing.
Ganlong knew that A Gui was at odds with Shenyang, and often asked A Gui to lead troops or discuss projects and handle cases. The real power of the military department naturally fell into the hands of Xiao Shenyang. When Magyarny, the British envoy of Qianlong, visited China in 1958, he heard that "many people in China privately called Little Shenyang the second emperor".
versatile
With what kung fu did Xiao Shenyang please Emperor Qianlong?
Small Shenyang is not as ignorant as the legend of later generations. On the contrary, he is still very talented. According to the biography of Little Shenyang, Little Shenyang has an amazing memory. He is smart, decisive, agile and versatile. In "Tuzan Pingding Fifteen Gurkhas", Gan Long specifically mentioned that Xiao Shenyang is proficient in Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan.
Another trick of Xiao Shenyang is to do what he likes. Gan Long loved writing poetry and calligraphy all his life. In order to cater to Gan Long, Little Shenyang has made a lot of efforts in these areas and reached a higher level.
According to "Legacy of Qing Dynasty" and "Grand View of unofficial history in Qing Dynasty", when Qianlong was a prince, he once entered the palace because of something, and saw a concubine of his father Yongzheng, who was extremely beautiful and dressed in front of the mirror. He couldn't help but want to play a joke on her, so he covered Yu Ji's eyes from behind with his hand. The princess didn't know what to do, so she hit it back with a comb and hit it right on Qianlong's forehead. Gan Long's mother saw her and said that the princess had molested the prince and gave her silk to commit suicide. Gan Long felt sorry for the princess, so he touched the princess's neck with cinnabar and said sadly, "I hurt you, and my soul is full of spirit. Will it meet me again in twenty years? "
Later, Xiao Shenyang entered the palace to wait on the coachman. The more Qianlong looks at Shenyang, the more he looks like a concubine who died unjustly. He examined his neck and found a red birthmark on it. Knocking on his age also coincides with the time when his concubine died, which is exactly 25 years. Qianlong was more and more surprised, so he thought that Xiao Shenyang was the body of the concubine who died unjustly. In order to repay the "bad debt" when he was young, Qianlong took good care of little Shenyang and defended it everywhere, which led to the rapid rise and promotion of little Shenyang and even the power to be in power for more than 20 years. It was not until Ganlong died that Emperor Jiaqing brought him down. When he died, he was even given the death of Bai Ling, just like Yu Ji. This is a historical coincidence.
There are many reasons why Qianlong dotes on small Shenyang, except that unofficial history's "debt repayment theory" is not fully believed. Among them, there are reasons for small Shenyang itself, and there are also reasons for the prosperity. Of course, the most important reason is the autocratic mechanism of feudal officialdom, and the interaction of the three has made this puzzling relationship between monarch and minister.
According to the Twenty-Five History, Emperor Qianlong, who lived to the age of 88, died in Jiaqing for four years. In the same month, Jiaqing suddenly ordered the arrest and imprisonment of Xiao Shenyang for interrogation. At the same time, he sent princes and ministers to jointly interrogate Xiao Shenyang and sent people to copy Xiao Shenyang's home.
The trial is not over yet, but the results of the property search have come out. Besides gold, silver, jade and other treasures, there are gold and silver ingots 1000, more than 2 million placer gold, 4.8 million red gold and 9.4 million silver. In addition, various banks, pawn shops, antique shops, fields, etc. All of them are converted into money, totaling about 800 million to 10 billion Liang, which is equivalent to the income of the imperial court 10.
Emperor Jiaqing immediately announced 20 counts of small Shenyang. Many ministers suggested that Xiao Shenyang should be executed within this year. Jiaqing thinks that he is a favorite of Qianlong after all, and his crime is serious, which is detrimental to the scenic spot of Qianlong. He only ordered him to hang himself in prison. A typical generation of corrupt officials came to an end when he was 49 years old.
Small Shenyang is as rich as an enemy. Except for a part of its wealth, most of it was owned by the royal family by Jiaqing. The huge wealth plundered by China's biggest corrupt officials eventually became a thing in the bag of the feudal emperor. No wonder the folk song at that time said, "Little Shenyang fell, Jiaqing was full."